Water ramp



J. AUBERT WATER RAMP Nov. 29, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1963 J. AUBERT WATER RAMP Nov. 29, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 16, 1963 United States Patent M 3,287,916 WATER RAMP Jean Aubert, Paris, France, assignor to Societe Anonyme dite: Societe Generale de Traction et dExploitations, Paris, France Filed Sept. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 309,198 Claims priority, application France, Sept. 21, 1962, 910,040 1 Claim. (Cl. 61-9) This invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and construction of water ramps.

A water ramp is an installation which permits ships and boats to pass through an appreciable change of level. The principle of this system and its general operational conditions are described in an article published in No. 16 of La Navigation Interieure et Rhenans of September 25, 1961.

As is stated in this publication, a water ramp comprises the following essential elements:

A portion of a canal in masonry, called the channel the transverse section whereof shows a horizontal bottom and two walls slightly inclined in relation to the vertical, this channel presenting a slope which is in principle of consent gradient over the entire length of the water ramp;

A mask or barrier which can close or block the transversal section of the channel;

On each bank of this channel, two pushers, each being supported by a suit-able number of wheels;

And a push-frame connecting the mask with the pushers.

This known water ramp construction has two major disadvantages, namely the requirement to synchronize the movements of the two pushers with the greatest possible precision and, due to the possibility that such synchronization may not always be perfect, the push-frame cannot be rigidly connected to the pushers and the mask.

It is therefore a principal object of the instant invention to provide a water ramp installation that will overcome the above named disadvantages and thus render the use of water ramps more convenient.

Other objects and characteristics of the invention, such as the structural simplification of the raising mechanism of the mask will become apparent in the course of the following description.

The advantageous results achieved with the new water ramp installation are generally characterized by the provision of a unitary pusher spanning the channel and being hinged by means of a ball and socket joint or any equivalent connecting device to a single member constituting both the push-frame and the mask. This combination push-frame and mask member is additionally and permanently connected by means of cables and through the intermediary of appropriate pulleys to a lifting drum situated on the central part of the pusher which dominates the channel.

The invention will now be described in detail and compared with prior art, making reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a known water ramp installation;

FIG. 2 is an end view of such known installation with the channel being represented by way of cross-section;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the longitudinal axis of the known installation;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the water ramp installation according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an end, partly sectional view of said installation taken along the line CDEF of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along the longitudinal axis of the water ramp installation according to the instant invention.

Patented Nov. 29, 1966 The same elements are represented in all figures by the same reference characters.

First, in the known installations, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the channel is represented by 1. The mask or barrier 2 is supported by wheels 3 which turn around horizontal axes. The mask is guided along the axis of the channel by means of four wheels 4 turning around an axis the inclination whereof in relation to the vertical is equal to the slope of the channel. The upstream face of the barrier mask is in contact with water while its downstream face is dry, the upstream being indicated in FIGS. 1 to 3 by the letter A and the downstream by the letter B. The water retaining surface 5, upstream of the mask, is shown both on the side view and on the vertical sectional view.

On each of the two banks of the channel there runs a self-propelled pusher 6 supported on an appropriate number of wheels 7. These pushers are disposed on appropriately provided platforms the slopes of which are equal to that of the channel.

The thrust which it is necessary to exert on the barrier mask, in order to displace the latter, is transmitted from the pushers to the mask by a push-frame 8. The latter consists of two parallel axles 9 and 10 rigidly connected to each other by two oblique posts. The large axle 9 of the push-frame is positioned in the rear and its trunnions are engaged in lateral openings of the pushers. The small axle 10 is positioned in front and it ensures the connection with the barrier mask.

The boat 11, situated upstream of the mask, is attached to the pushers by cables 12 which are wound around winding drums or capstans 13 provided at the front ends of the pushers.

The operation of such an installation is as follows:

By displacing the pushers and the barrier mask in the longitudinal direction of the channel, the retained water and the boat which it supports gains or loses altitude to terminate at one or at the other level which the water ramp has as its function to unite.

At the lower end of the water ramp the water of the downstream level permanently fills up the lower part of the channel. The boat positioned at the upstream of the mask can therefore reach the downstream level and move thereon if the barrier mask is momentarily removed, for instance, by raising it above the water.

At the upper end of the water ramp, the boat floating on the water retained ahead of the barrier mask has no need to pass through the mask but the upstream level must usually be closed by a mobile gate the function of which is to prevent the waters of the upper level from running down the slope in the channel.

When the mask or barrier has reached its required position at the upper end of the channel, its presence there is sufiicient to prevent the running down of the waters of the upper level. The lock gate at this upper level, is

then opened and the boat is permitted to move out while another boat coming downstream may take its place in the mobile waters retained by the barrier or mask. The gate of the upper level is then closed and the downstream operation may begin.

As mentioned abovethe two principal disadvantages of this arrangement are, first the requirement that the motion of the two pushers be as synchronized as possible and second that, this synchronization being inevitably imperfect, the possibility of rigid connection between axle 9 and each of the two pushers is precluded. In fact, such connection could not resist the appreciable thrust that would be produced during even the smallest dis symmetry in the movement of said pushers, particularly in the case of a relative progression, even very slightly irregular, of one pusher with respect to the other. Due to this deviation of axle 9, even of the slightest nature, in

relation to the perpendicular to the plane of symmetry of the system, axle 10 which is always strictly parallel to axle 9, also cannot be rigidly connected with the mask.

The installation according to the instant invention, which is illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, fully overcomes these inconveniences. In this new construction the unitary pusher 106 runs on wheels 107 on the two banks of the channel 1. The wheels 107 are activated by means of driving members energized by engines which can, for instance, be installed in a chamber 121 especially provided for that purpose in the central part of the pusher. As it moves, the pusher drives along, through the intermediary of a ball and socket joint connection 115, a push-frame 114 the end of which, opposite to the ball and socket joint, forms the barrier mask. Said end constituting the mask, rests on the bottom of the channel on Wheels 103 the number of which can be two, and it is guided laterally in said channel by wheels 10-4 the number of which can also be limited to two. As shown in FIG. 6, these wheels can be placed on the dry face of the mask. The necessary water-tightness between the mask and the walls of the channel can be achieved by suitable seals 1% which are represented by the broken line in FIG. 6.

The combination push-frame and mask member 114 is connected by cables 116 to the hoisting winch 118 provided on the roof of the pusher 106. In this manner said push-frame and mask member 114 pivots on the ball joint 115 and can thus easily be raised by operating said hoisting winch 118, this operation being necessary, as indicated above, when the boat reaches the downstream level. Then, member 114 takes the position represented in phantom in FIG. 6.

The described novel installation of the water ramp operates in the same manner as that of the known type, however, as can-be easily deduced from the above description, its operation is simpler and more economical; its action is surer, requires no particular synchronization and facilitates a quick lifting of the mask.

It will, of course, be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment described above and illustrated in the appended drawings, but that different modifications and equivalent means evident to those skilled in the art may be applied without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In a water ramp installation having a channel of constant slope over its entire length, an automotor engine comprising a continuously rigid unitary structure spanning the channel and having wheels engaging each bank on opposite sides of the channel, an elongated rigid pushframe depending from said unitary structure and solely supported therefrom by a ball and socket joint at one end portion of said push-frame; the other end portion of the pushframe being traversed beyond both lateral sides by a mask rigidly integral with the push-frame to define therewith a stitf single member, said mask conforming substantially to the bottom and sides of the channel and being fitted with supporting and guiding wheels.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 1,045,296 6/ 1953- France.

EARL 3'. WII MER, Primary Examiner. 

